Just The Way You Are
by Dark Videl
Summary: "Hey! Hey! No flirting in front of the goods!" Naruto teased, taking some joy in watching their faces turn mildly red, and he dramatically clutched his sweets close to his chest.


**Title: **The Way You Are

**Summary: ** "Hey! Hey! No flirting in front of the goods!" Naruto teased, taking some joy in watching their faces turn mildly red, and he dramatically clutched his sweets close to his chest.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto and didn't make any profit from writing this story.

**Theme:** Alternate **Universe ****Prompt: **Change

**Comments:** Revised. Submission for the SasuSaku Month 2011.

In two weeks time it would've been Valentine's Day. The one day set aside for lovers and young couples, civilians and ninjas alike, to go out and bask in their loss of singlehood.

A day little children, who were excited about such a new event, would sit around cutting out red colored hearts, use crayons to color in an abundant amount of more hearts, and exchange homemade chocolates with friends and crushes.

A day when a curly haired baby in diapers became part of cluttered aisles filled with hearts of all sizes and shapes, with shelves of specialized sugary treats and equally sugary cards.

A day that young girls, and just about every other female, would confess to a particular someone in hopes of having that love requited or simply giving that guy homemade chocolates and waiting anxiously for white day to come around.

And this year Sakura Haruno would be no different.

That day would be the exact day she had convinced herself she would tell him everything.

About how she liked him for so long.

Oh, and how he made her heart flutter with a single look. And the fact that he could get her stomach do summersaults whenever he spoke. And how she dreamed about them-

O-kay...

She hoped to the gods he would say something by then because she honestly saw herself rambling on nervously after that and embarrassing them both by babbling about more private admissions about what he made her feel and think.

So like any love determined girl of her age, she had begun prepping for a little over a week, almost like if it was an exam rather than her love life - or lack of. She put her ability of great memorization to work and just about devoured all the magazines she could find about love and dating, treating them like if they were sacred books of sorts, until the titles began to blend into one another.

She even spent more time in the bathroom, which took out some time for sleeping, to ensure not a single strand of hair was out of place and mentally ward off any blemishes that were thinking of ruining her complexion. Hell, she even practiced facial expressions deemed "cute and irresistible" and acted out daydreams of them together in the mirror after brushing her teeth.

She honestly felt a bit pathetic and quite odd about the whole thing, she being the less girlie out of all her classmates and relying on magazines for help, up until she caught a glimpse of him.

_**Remember: Men like cute girls. Frowns and scowls aren't attractive. So smile and flirt a little. Show off that charm and leave an impressionable image.**__ - It Girl magazine_

"What's with your face?" Sasuke had frowned, after initially appearing a bit disturbed, and looked at her as if she was coming down with the flu rather than trying to be cute and alluring.

Trying to laugh girlishly (the first and last attempt completely bombed) and flirting with him (by complimenting his skills with the kunai, which wasn't as bold as talking about how he managed to still look good even when he was sweating) had also flopped after his back-to-back, "What's wrong with you?" statements.

The oblivious jerk.

Oh, but she had been irresistible. He couldn't keep his hands off of her, at least in the sense that he tried to take her temperature with the back of his hand on more than one occasion.

_**Remember: Men are visual creatures, more so than women. He may not show this with his inability to pick out the right wallpaper to match the couches, but it's there. Try catching his eye with a new outfit. Vibrant colors. Use your awesome body to your advantage. **__- It Girl magazine_

Sakura dutifully sought out advice on how to dress more alluringly by watching older girls, specifically those with boyfriends, and picked up what would work for her. Magazines were mostly useless in that area as they were just paper images and couldn't become three dimensional - especially the ones that cost more than a month of rent.

And as if Cupid was adding his own input, she'd discovered push up bras not too long after, thanks to her visiting grandmother who embarrassingly brought up the "lack of bosom" in an otherwise gifted family, and brought found herself buying a bundle.

It took her three days to work up the nerve to put one on. She felt and looked different, but the real test would be if he noticed.

"Sakura-chan, you look different." Naruto had said, but he seemed unable to pick up on what was different, and that made her smile just a little knowing that someone had noticed.

Not the intended person though. He didn't glance down once.

The blind fool.  
_**  
Remember: Like the saying goes, "you catch more flies with honey". Men sometimes want insight and advice from their friends about their girlfriends or potential ones. But no one likes being around a harpy, least of all if she's dating his friend. **__- It Girl magazine _

And while it was very, very difficult, she tried to remain calm whenever Naruto pushed her buttons with his wild antics and boorish mannerisms - which seemed like every two minutes.

Instead of slamming the book upside his head during their study group, as at that time she felt he most definitely deserved it, she had mentally counted to twenty. She would've made it to thirty if he hadn't insisted on finding out if something was wrong with her.

It would take practice, she supposed.

However, Sasuke didn't have the same amount of patience for his friend and Naruto was smacked upside the head with her textbook a few minutes later. This led to an argument that was only resolved by her slamming her hands on the table and yelling, "shut your traps".

The look of disbelief, which then turned scornful when the two boys turned to glare at one another from their respectable seats, made Sakura know she was not making any progress.

It was a bit discouraging. No, it was very discouraging. Almost every day she would hear about countless of girls that got the boys of their dreams by following the suggestions from these magazines.

So despite all the failed attempts, she was determined to follow the advices to a T. She was much too stubborn, and perhaps a bit foolhardy, to let these setbacks get to her.

She didn't want to be seen as his tomboy friend anymore.

She wanted to be seen as a girl - no, as a woman.

She was going to give it her all.  
_**  
Remember: While it may feel like jumping into a pond of alligators, hold true to your feelings. Be bold. Sometimes men won't get the message otherwise.**__ - It Girl magazine_

**I.**

Naruto plopped himself down in his seat, distinctly aware of how strange it was actually being early for a change and not running up the stairs like some escaped maniac out from the psych ward. Not even Iruka-sensei was in the currently quiet classroom.

So with that in mind, Naruto simply threw up his legs onto his desk and leaned back on his chair so that the front legs were a few inches off the ground. It took one glance to know Sasuke was in a prissy little mood, but one that was different from his usual moodiness.

"What's eating you?" Naruto asked.

Nothing like being blunt and direct. Pussyfooting around with Sasuke was pointless and he rather liked saying anything that came out of his mouth. He had no filter, which was sometimes a curse.

After a few seconds went by, with Naruto still rocking his chair back and forth, Sasuke finally replied, "She's acting weird."

He blinked. "Who?"

Sasuke almost rolled his eyes. "Sakura."

Despite the temptation to snappishly add, "who else?," he refrained from doing so. But it did gall him in his particular mood he was in that Naruto would ask knowing that he made it very clear that he didn't care about any other female aside from her and his mother.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked a few more times and then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it she kinda is." Then a moment later, he shrugged. "But girls are _always_ weird, you know."

Weird was how Sakura liked to sleep with socks on even in the middle of summer, the fuzzier the better.

Weird was the fact that Sakura just loved knowing about every random little fact that even the teachers usually glossed over to spare everyone else from sheer boredom as if someday it'd be significant somehow.

No, he knew weird.

This went beyond that.

Iruka-sensei interrupted Sasuke's thoughts when he called up for the next row of students to come to the front of the room. A few grumbles erupted afterwards, but they did as they were told. Two girls from that recently called row were walking back up the aisle, their hands now occupied by the large textbooks Iruka-sensei had just distributed.

"It's almost Valentine's Day." The first girl said not at all being subtle considering that up until the two girls had neared them, they had been whispering.

"I know. I can't wait." Her friend replied, equally excited.

They turned to look at Sasuke then, as usual they ignored his disgruntle friend that was seated beside him, hoping that they looked coy and flirtatious in that quick glance, and then giggled afterwards.

Sasuke really wanted to roll his eyes then.

Naruto actually did.

Sadly this wasn't anything new, but it was continuing to become exceptionally annoying over the years, especially when that dreadful event rolled around. It was like an epidemic.

Girls would stare at him from across the room, fail miserably to laugh sweetly and succeeding in sounding like a bunch of hyenas. Then they'd start stalking him whenever he went, trying to strike up silly conversations, hatching ridiculous plans to get his first kiss...Actually, that was really what happened year round. There were just disgusting chocolates and love letters added into the mix.

He honestly didn't get what was so attractive about him that made girls act so ridiculous. Hell, he wanted to know so he could get rid of it - _fast_.

Naruto's ears easily picked up on that little information. "Hey, maybe that's it! Do you think she has someone she likes?"

Before Sasuke could even process the question, his friend went on full steam ahead and got all starry eyed and exclaimed, "Could it be me? She's always looking over here!"

And like every damn year, Sasuke lost Naruto to that stupid holiday and he became just as lovesick like all the other girls. It was rather disturbing and utterly annoying.

And to think the one person he found he could actually count on to be immune to this day like he was, had gone and started acting all weird.

_"Do you think she has someone she likes?"_

He batted away at the imaginary Naruto and his stupid question.

_"Do you think she has someone she likes?"_

Stupid Naruto!

******II.**

Today was Valentine's Day and within two hours of classes starting, his desk had been filled three times with chocolates, love letters, and pictures of girls hoping to capture his attention. This, of course, wasn't abnormal but served to be irritating as hell. It was almost amazing, at least some would say this, that his all too devoted fan girls didn't pick up on his hatred for sweets, though that didn't shock anyone that knew these pact of girls.

However, much to his pleasure (as he got very little from his fan girls and their antics) no one dared confess to him anymore since it was well known that confessions would always end with rejection - a simple "not interested," and "no" were the classics.

So it came as no surprise that there was a pact among the fan girls that was strictly enforced on those that weren't allowed into the group which state that:

"No one is allowed to neither confess to Sasuke nor date him if asked. Sasuke Uchiha is for everyone (whether the uninformed boy wanted to be or not)".

It also came as no surprise that this particular pact was suggested and made into a law by Ami herself, the girl most rejected by the brooding nin.

This pact however only served to please his groupies because whenever this dreadful day arrived. First his desk would become invaded by all these gifts and cavity inducing treats by the truckloads and the tiresome cycle would begin. Then the girls would get hopeful. Other boys would get jealous and rude. The same girls would get their dreams crushed and those same boys would come running around trying to be the rebound guy.

And the cycle repeated. Every. Damn. Year.

And as his part in this stupid cycle, Sasuke would find himself discarding these chocolates into the nearest trashcan every year, wary enough not to directly touch any of them since some girls were desperate enough to add 'love potions' that left horrible messes when activated by touch.

This was all quite tedious and bothersome. But somehow his mother and brother found the whole thing amusing and often times teased him about his large fan club and their "love" for him. There was only one thing, and even that was just barely enough, to make this awful day tolerable.

And that was Sakura.

Oh, she would tease him about the chocolates and the girls right along with his mother and brother, even going as far as reading a few of the embarrassingly corny letters out loud, but while she gave chocolates to her few male friends, she didn't do the same for him. That alone was good, but she didn't want him to feel left out - even though he would deny feeling that way.

So on this day Sasuke was guaranteed that he would be getting a basketful of tomatoes and homemade onigiri instead of the mounds of chocolates and other sugary treats.

In turn, Sasuke would get her just as much in chocolates (and watch in amazement and mild disgust as she consumed those atrocious things) that would give her a sugar high for weeks on White Day.

It was a good deal on all sides.

It was a tradition even. And he very much liked tradition.

He didn't like surprises though.

And he _certainly_ did not like sweets.

"What is this?" Sasuke poked at the chocolate substance with his pencil as if he thought it would suddenly grow legs and arms. Considering Sakura was generally a bad cook, he wouldn't be all that surprised.

"It's Cho-co-late." Naruto said as he plopped three more into his mouth and then sighed blissfully.

His left eyebrow twitched. "I know what it is, moron."

"Then why did you ask?" Naruto snorted, a bit annoyed that his disgruntle friend ruined his chocolate high, and then pretended to whisper to Sakura, "And he calls me the moron?"

Sasuke chose to ignore him. "I thought we had a deal."

Damn it. They even did that stupid pinkie promise crap. If that wasn't commitment, then he didn't know what was.

Sakura wiggled her pinkie and he looked like she had offended him. "I know, but its tradition. My mother was making some for my father, so I joined in. I couldn't waste it so..." She smiled almost coyly at him. "Did I spoil you, Mr. Uchiha?"

He snorted. "Hardly."

"Hey! Hey! No flirting in front of the goods!" Naruto teased, taking some joy in watching their faces turn mildly red, and he dramatically clutched his sweets close to his chest.

Sasuke regained his composure much quicker than Sakura did, most likely since she was naturally paler than he was.

"Who's flirting, you moron?" Sakura asked, completely flustered and she hated that.

Suddenly an idea struck Naruto in the mist of Sakura's denials, one he would attest to was sparked by the holiday and not out of curiosity or jealousy. So before either of them could find some sort of comeback or somehow stop him, he swiped two chocolates from Sasuke.

It was almost comical watching Naruto's delighted face become pale, before the horror set in, and then finally there was a look of complete disgust when he somehow managed to swallow.

"W-Wh...What the hell was that, Sakura-chan?" Naruto whined.

"Cho-co-late." Sasuke taunted.

"I know what chocolate tastes like, you bastard. And that was not it!" Poor Naruto looked just about ready to trash Sasuke's entire batch of chocolates but seemed preoccupied with stuffing three more of his own to get rid of the bitter taste.

Luckily Naruto was saved from getting either a beating or having his chocolates swiped because Sakura had two remaining chocolate treats left and she saw her intended parties, Ino and Hinata, passing their open classroom door as they walked down the hallway.

"Don't even think about taking my chocolates." Naruto said as they were ushered out of their homeroom with a few other remaining classmates.

Sasuke stood to the left of Naruto, who was locking his sugary sweets up in his locker to protect them from potential 'candy nappers'. "Your cavity causing sweets are safe."

"I'll never understand people like you." Naruto shook his head and then groaned, recalling that he hadn't finished his math assignment. "Hey, did you finish..."

"Ten bucks." Sasuke said, knowing exactly where Naruto was heading. If he wasn't willing to do his own work or seek out a tutor, it would cost him.

Naruto gawked at him. "You...you'd actually _charge_ your own friend? You no good...," He scowled, noting Sasuke's knowing smile. They both knew he'd get a long scolding from Iruka if he didn't hand something in. "Okay...fine. Hurry up."

Sasuke turned around and headed for his own locker but saw something resting on the windowsill which was directly next to it. As if magically appearing on its own, there sat a bunch of lonesome tomatoes peering out from a plastic bag. On the heart decorated bag was a post-it note on the top with a smirking simile face that seemed to be saying "I'm superior to all the chocolates," like some arrogant king peering down on his subjects.

He almost laughed.

That sneaky little...

"You like Sakura-chan."

Sasuke wasn't sure but somehow he nearly found himself tripping over thin air. He turned back and glared at Naruto, who had suddenly appeared behind him and looked as if he'd somehow, in the matter of a few seconds, became recently enlightened.

"She's a classmate." Sasuke replied. "A friend."

"And you're bullshitting me."

"Stop saying stupid things."

"Oh come on. You cockblock every guy that comes within two feet of her. You got pissed off that she liked someone else. You look at her with this goofy look on your face when she's not looking."

Naruto ignored Sasuke's denial about doing anything remotely goofy and continued onward ticking off his proof with another finger, "You go out of your way for her. You took a _punch_ for her. You made soup for Sakura-Chan and said your mom made it. You even let her get away with things you'd never let any girl, let alone anyone, get away with."

"Would you shut up?"

"Not until you admit it that you, Mr. Asshole, like her because it's getting annoying watching this little game you guys play. Either you make it happen or back down because there are loads of guys that like Sakura-chan too."

Sasuke watched as Naruto walked off, muttering a few curses underneath his breath. He shook his head wondering what had gotten into Naruto to have given him such crazy ideas.

Was there even a need for an explanation beside the fact that Naruto was a fool?

_"She has someone she likes?"_

And the more Naruto's damn words swirled around him like a cloud, the less explanations Sasuke had to work with, and the more the truth kept beating him in the head.

If he admitted this out loud, if he told her, it would change everything. He didn't like change. In truth change scared him quite a bit. But the more Sasuke thought about what Naruto said, the more he began to wonder if all change wasn't bad. If perhaps some was good. Maybe Sakura was right that change didn't mean the end of things.

But could he take a plunge into the unknown? Could he risk his friendship with Sakura?

**III.**

Sasuke found Sakura in the library a few minutes later, which came as no surprise to him or anyone that knew the little bookworm. She just about lived there (the librarian knew her full name and kept her favorite table reserved for her). She was always talking about loving the fresh smell of a new paperback, the tattered pages of an old classic, and the quietness that was so unlike the loud hallways just outside the doors.

"I am a genius." Sakura proclaimed as she cracked her knuckles above her head. There was not a math problem that she couldn't figure out. Iruka-sensei would have to recommend her now.

"Depends upon who you ask."

"Hardy har har." Sakura then stuck out her tongue at Sasuke as he took a seat across from her without a word and plopped his messenger bag next to her stack of recently read books.

"Got your little present." He held up the yellow simile face with his middle and index finger then wiggled it a few times in her face.

"And that, Mr. Uchiha, is a compromise." Sakura grinned and he wiggled the simile a bit more, looking less than amuse. "It was great, wasn't it? I always pick the ripest one from my mother's garden...though I'll never understand how you can eat them raw like that."

Sasuke wiggled the yellow simile once more, mockingly this time. "The same way I can't understand your insatiable sweet tooth." He then balled the paper bag his tomatoes were in, adding the simile on top, and tossed into behind him.

Somehow the silly thing found itself in a recycling bin. He would claim it was simple "Uchiha awesomeness" or something along those lines while Naruto (who rarely ventured into the library unless by force) would strongly profess "it was pure luck".

"I didn't want to say anything, but what is up with Naruto lately? He's been giving me these crazy looks." And there was the fact that he tried and failed to kiss her twice before their second class, though he vigorously denied doing such a thing.

"He seems to have this idea that you like him or something." There was no point in dodging the question since Naruto had been proclaiming his love from the rooftops all day, but couldn't quite outdo Lee (however who could) and his outlandish declarations.

"Oh." That would explain it.

"Do you?" Sasuke asked after a few seconds passed, trying to seem nonchalant.

In truth Sasuke didn't exactly want to hear a confirmation. It wouldn't kill him, but he wouldn't be doing back flips either. Not that he didn't want her to be happy (who he wondered could be happy around that ball of annoyance he didn't know), but he rather liked having her around for him alone. It was selfish yes. A bit foolish too. But she was a constant in his life that he didn't want to lose even to someone as simpleminded as Naruto.

It was a strange though but Sasuke never gave much thought of her and other boys. Other than Naruto and him, Sakura rarely interacted with any boys and found those she talked to nearly as irritating as a swarm of bees. Was it wrong of him to feel a little pleasure in knowing that?

But now Sasuke knew what he had been blind to see or refused to acknowledge. Sakura was a girl, a very pretty girl at that. She was smart, reliable, loving, and loyal to a fault. One day there would be some guy that would come along and she would like him. She could leave his side and be with that guy. And the more Sasuke had thought about it, the more he hated the fact that she was a girl and that she didn't see him as a regular boy.

"Of course I do." And just like that Sasuke swore he could've been hit by a baseball bat and not felt a thing. "He's my friend." She continued on and then glanced at him. "I uh like you too, just so you know."

"Huh."

Huh.

Well, it wasn't exactly how Sakura envisioned her confession to go or how she thought he would've responded to it. But in truth the fact that she was confessing probably went over his head (not that she could blame him) and registered as a platonic statement rather than anything romantically linked.

_Her mother had shook her head at the piles of magazines she'd found in her daughter's bedroom. "You should be yourself."_

It was such a 'mom thing' to say. Sakura wasn't sure but might have rolled her eyes.

"I'm being serious, Sakura. There's no point in 'catching' this boy with a false image, Sakura. If he doesn't realize what a good person you are, it's his lost."

Of course Sakura had scoffed at what her mother had said. Sasuke didn't see the real her and he didn't see the 'fake' her either. He just saw a friend that happened to be a girl and nothing more.

As if the universe wanted to mock her, Sakura turned to look beside them. A girl apparently had just confessed and was receiving her first kiss, which she no doubt will be squealing over with her friends later. Sakura briefly recalled this girl sat beside her in her first class and was nervous about confessing. But there she was getting busy with her crush after apparently hours of unnecessary worry. It was so unfair.

"Isn't it romantic?" Sakura whispered, trying to discreetly point at the couple. There was no point in being bitter about another person's luck; she was a romantic at heart not a cold hearted witch.

Sasuke scoffed.

"Oh I forgot. Ye, who has no a romantic bone in his body, wouldn't think so." She laughed at that.

The librarian appeared at that moment, her arms folded across her chest, and she looked rather irritated behind those thick black glasses of hers. "Please collect your little friends, Uchiha."

The older woman gestured to Naruto, who was bickering with Kiba in the middle of a growing crowd just outside the library doorway. Without looking back, as she was someone that expected her orders to be followed without question, she headed towards her desk to most likely fill out detention slips for the bickering duo.

"I swear those two shouldn't be allowed anywhere near each other." Sakura shook her head and turned back to her notebook.

The page she had been trying to discreetly cover with her forearm was filled with many doodles ranging from simple circles to a bunch of swirls. Of course that wasn't what she had been hiding. In the middle of the page, surrounded by all those scribbles was a large heart with her name and Sasuke's in the middle. She had scratched it out a few minutes before he came because she had come to realization that she needed to find a way somehow to remain content with just being his friend (at least until she got more courage and confessed properly).

What Sakura saw now made her blink several times; trying to figure out if she was dreaming or hallucinating. The pencil scratches were all gone and in its place was the original doodle.

The small left over eraser residue still lingered on the table. On his side of the table.

Had he...

Sakura turned around quickly and spotted Sasuke who was briefly speaking with the librarian. As if sensing her staring, he turned back - and smirked.

He knew.

And it was probably the closest thing to a confession she'd get for now. While Sasuke Uchiha was above average in many things, superior in a few others, he was a bit far behind in a couple.

But still she loved him. This arrogant bastard. Flaws and all.

Sakura felt like she was soaring. Although she didn't get the toe curling kiss that her classmate had that day, she felt as if she somehow had. She turned back to the notebook again and noticed the addition he had made at the side of the heart.

_****__**Don't start getting weird on me again.**_

Sakura could almost hear her mother's "I told you so," in the back of her head. And for once, she didn't mind because she had been right.


End file.
